A court has dismissed an appeal against a verdict for a former police officer found guilty of lying about condoms when he gave evidence during criminal proceedings against his girlfriend who had falsely accused her ex-fiance of rape.
Scott John White, previously based at Queanbeyan Police Station, was found guilty in December 2021 by an ACT Supreme Court jury of perjury after he pleaded not guilty.
During a 2015 ACT Magistrates Court hearing involving his partner, Sarah-Jane Parkinson, and her previous partner, White gave evidence.
He told the court he and Parkinson had never used condoms.
This was relevant because she alleged her assailant left a condom wrapper behind after raping her.
White's evidence was given despite him previously telling another police officer that condoms had been used during anal sex.
White, who was sacked after he was found guilty, said he had a vasectomy and during his trial, he said he believed the questioning during the 2015 hearing related only to penile-vaginal sex.
Parkinson, who has since married White, was jailed for three years over the offences that involved her falsely accusing her ex-fiance of rape.
Justice Michael Elkaim sentenced White, who was born in Wagga Wagga in 1982, last April to a suspended 18-month jail term upon him entering a good behaviour order of two years.
Justice Elkaim said "a term of imprisonment is an obligatory product of the nature of the offending".
He said the objective seriousness of the offending was affected by White being a police officer as he should have known "the upmost importance of giving truthful evidence".
He said the offender not having expressed remorse was "a product of his continued belief in his innocence".
During an appeal hearing last August, White's lawyer argued the guilty verdict was "unsafe and unsatisfactory" and "unreasonable in light of the evidence".
The basis was that on the evidence led at trial, including exculpatory evidence, it was not open to the jury to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of his guilt.
Among her arguments, Katie McCann for the prosecution said there was ample evidence to allow the jury to conclude beyond reasonable doubt that White had been reckless in making the relevant statements.
In a decision on Thursday, the ACT Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.
Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said that "based on my reading of the record of the trial, I consider that it was well open to the jury to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant was guilty of count two [perjury]".
"In my assessment, the prosecution evidence was damning as to the appellant's state of mind at the time he falsely denied any use of condoms in his relationship with Ms Parkinson," she said.
"It was well open to the jury to infer that he must have known his evidence was simply false."
Among their reasoning, justices David Mossop and Berna Collier said "we are of the opinion that this appeal is without merit and should be dismissed".
"It was not, on a reading of all of the evidence adduced at trial, unsafe for the jury to reach the verdict that the appellant was guilty of perjury beyond reasonable doubt," the judges said.
"This was a conclusion that was clearly open to the jury following the presentation of their respective cases by the Crown and the defence."
Justices Mossop and Collier said the appellant "was, at the very least, reckless when he made the relevant statements".
